This blog is an education resource for teachers, parents, homeschoolers, and others who are looking for education ideas and links. Check regularly for new articles and links. I constantly find inspiration and new resources through my other writing projects.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

While Amanda Bean loves to count, she fails to understand why she should learn to multiply. After all as someone who loves to count, what would be the point in learning to multiply?

Through a few adventures and some very funny dreams, Amanda comes to understand that multiplication is a huge time saver when it comes to counting things. She decides it is a practical tool. Learning it will save her time for other things she loves to do.

For children and parents who have ever questioned why they must learn math, Amanda Bean's journey is a fun story to read. It is not as strong as some of the other math stories I have reviewed in terms of direct instruction. This requires more work from parents or teachers to help children use the opportunities to multiply provided in the story. Marilyn Burns does provide parents and teachers with ways to extend the story and use the examples to help engage children in practicing multiplication. This is likely to be just a fun story about a fantastic dream without some intervention. Other math titles I have reviewed are more successful in engaging children to learn about math independently.